Today's News

Coachman talks ESPN's role at SummerSlam:

"We're doing a lot of sit-downs on Saturday with guys who have cross-over appeal. We're going to sit down and talk with different wrestlers that either played football in college, like Roman Reigns or John Cena, to the Miz, who was a reality star, so there are a lot of guys the casual sports fan would know. We'll meet with them on Saturday, and those interviews will be on ESPN.com and our SportsCenter feed on Twitter, and then we'll be doing live shots on Sunday morning from outside the arena to show people the atmosphere. Then we'll interview a few people about what Sunday night means to their careers. We're used to dealing with athletes and asking, 'What does this game mean to you?' Well, performing at SummerSlam is just like performing in the NFC Championship game. You've got to bring your top game so you can make it to the Super Bowl in WrestleMania. We want to introduce a lot of these guys to the part of the sports world who don't watch Raw. ESPN is not a place you come to take the next step, it's a place you come to spend your career. I plan on retiring at ESPN, but I would love to be involved with ESPN and WWE. The biggest network in America for credibility in sports and entertainment is ESPN, so the best way to make your product credible is to be on ESPN. I'm proud of the fact that I am the liaison for the WWE. I appreciate the executives at ESPN opening their hearts and their minds, and I can't think of anything cooler than what we're doing this weekend at SummerSlam."

2K16:

Steve Austin has completed his promo work for 2K16, and has now left New York, and gone home, he is not sticking around for the big events this weekend.

Jim Ross has been confirmed for the game, he will call the Steve Austin special feature section.

WrestleMania starting next week:

WWE have a huge angle scripted for Monday's Raw, which will be pivotal in the storylines for WrestleMania next year.

ROH:

ROH have announced a Tag Team Championship main event for their next special, The Addiction vs The Young Bucks. The promotion have also announced a tie up with NJPW, and will travel to Japan twice next year for co-pro shows, while NJPW will be going to the States in February.

Roderick Strong was badly cut in a match vs Jay Lethal this week when Jay's teeth connected with his forehead. He is still booked to compete at tonight's ''Field Of Honor'' special, which is going into direct competition with the NXT show, both held in New York.

Bushwhacker Luke, The Blue Meanie, and Taeler Hendrix all made appearances for upcoming episodes of their show.

SummerSlam:

Sting is not going to be a part of SummerSlam, he has left New York after appearing at the weekend events (There are rumours that this is a swerve, and he will be involved in the Shield vs Wyatt's match), and WWE held a social media hide and tweet game today, they hid tickets around New York and tweeted clues to their locations, the lucky fans that found them will be in the Barclays Center tomorrow night.

UFC stars to wrestle for GFW?:

Phil Baroni jumped the railings to challenge Chael Sonnen at last nights GFW TV tapings, this may be leading to an in ring feud. Baroni is currently training with D'Lo Brown. It is claimed he was not invited by GFW, and his actions were not scripted, sanctioned, or approved of by GFW, as he apparently went into business for himself, but that may all be kayfabe.

Bruce Hart blasts WWE:

In an interview recently Bruce Hart repeatedly targeted WWE for strong criticism...

On Owen, Davey, Dynamite not being in HOF...

"The WWE can't claim that they haven't had it brought to their attention and that it hasn't been mentioned to them. I suspect or suppose there is some perceptible rational in Owen's situation. I think they are obviously apprehensive about the backlash from Owen's widow, Martha. But as for Dynamite and Davey I have no idea why the hell they are not in the Hall of Fame. There are a lot of inconsistencies. I've spoken and maybe been outspoken in the past on some of the glaring inconsistencies in the WWE Hall of Fame. In recent years to have they have more then put themselves over and they have chosen to induct some non-WWE people. Some of these old guys like my Dad and Gorgeous George. If they are so inclined and choosing to do that why don't they induct Lou Thesz or Strangler Lewis or Frank Gotch or some of these iconic legends and builders that were really of their era like Jim Thorpe or the Bronko Nagurski in a football parallel. Those guys are glaring by their omission in the Hall of Fame."

On the new Owen Hart DVD set...

"The fact they are talking about doing a DVD or some damn thing, I would hope that if they do choose to do that, they choose to give the money to charity or give it to Owen's wife and let her give it to charity. I always hate to sound like one of these em-bittered or some kind of outsider denouncing something because I may be not in it but that's not really the case. I've seen a lot of injustices and things that don't sit right with me and I think one of the problems with the wrestling business these days all too many people from the wrestling fraternity have this flickering unrealistic notion that I better not say anything detrimental or negative about anyone in Connecticut because it might jeopardize their job security. I suspect that 99% of those poor bastards would if given the time of day. For all intents and purposes I feel that WWE should be endeavoring to do what's right for the wrestling fan-base."

On Martha Hart's opinion of WWE...

"It's exploitative and materialistic and if that's the case, I've suggested to them that several years ago and they gave me some kind of lame rational about Owen and being apprehensive about Martha. I said that it would be that much easier for you guys if you are going to induct Owen that you induct him in the same class in the triage of Davey and Dynamite. They are all kind of from the same, Stampede Wrestling, Owen and Davey were a tag team, quite often Davey was a part of the Hart Foundation like when they did that thing in 97. It would be that much easier if you inducted them all together and then you have less backlash from Martha if you maybe just inducted Owen individually and it looked like you have more grounds to b---h about it and claim you are exploiting Owen. They didn't even dignify what I said with a response."